Exploring the Spessart-Main region in every direction: You can do just that on the Spessart Hills Trails 1 and 2, which take you to the most scenic places that the Spessart hills nature reserve has to off er.

The Spessart hills make up one of Germany’s largest single expanses of forest. The Spessart Hills Trail 2 crosses the Bavarian Spessart nature reserve from north to south – from the climatic health resort of Heigenbrücken to the river Main. Via Waldaschaff you pass spectacular vantage points and romantic valleys before reaching the peaks above Mespelbrunn-Hessenthal. The Spessart Hills Trail 1 and Spessart Hills Trail 2 intersect near Waldaschaff. The pilgrimage church in Hessenthal is home to a particular gem – the Lamentation of Christ (1490) by Tilman Riemenschneider. From Volkersbrunn you can enjoy far-reaching vistas of the Main valley with the Odenwald forest in the distance, and from Geisshöhe hill a mesmerising panorama across a sea of wooded peaks as far as the Taunus hills. Past idyllic Lake Wildensee you reach Stadtprozelten on the Main river. Henneburg Castle, one of the loveliest castle ruins in Germany, sits in splendour above the town.

Tip: Gothic pilgrimage church, Mespelbrunn-Hessenthal The oldest building in Hessenthal's fortified church complex is the Gothic pilgrimage church, which was built in 1439 as the burial church for the Echter von Mespelbrunn dynasty. The new church contains the Crucifixion Group by Hans Backoffen (1519) and the Lamentation of Christ by Tilman Riemenschneider (1485).